Industries facing raw material crunch

BIRGUNJ, DEC 11 -

Industrial units along the Birgunj -Pathlaiya Industrial Corridor are facing a shortage of raw materials after syndicate imposers halted transportation demanding a fare hike.

In particular, factories with low storage capacity have been hit hard. Most of the manufacturers of food items and poultry feed even halted production on Wednesday.

A proprietor of a poultry feed factory complained they have failed to supply their production to the market for the last two days. The factory manufactures 30 trucks of the products daily on an average.

Rosit Unninthan, a senior official at Jagadamba Steels, said it is very difficult to find trucks even if higher fares are offered.

With the trucks raising the fares, the prices of the daily commodities have also soared. Unninthan said the price per iron rod has been increased by 50 paisa. “Consumers will be hit hard as the increased cost will be passed on to them intimately,” he said. Jagadamba sells 70 trucks of iron rods daily on an average, but plans to dispatch only 50 percent on Tuesday.

The shortage of trucks escalated after Bara-based Tarai Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association and Makawanpur-based Narayani Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association enforced token system (rotation system) for the trucks since November 30. Under the new rule, a truck cannot operate more than six times a month and the transporters have to obtain “loading card” from the association concerned.

The new system has not raised fares, but the transporters are demanding higher, according to traders. They said the truckers were charging an extra Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000.

Meanwhile, the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the rotation system violates the principle of competition. “The syndicate badly affects entrepreneurs, traders as well as the consumers,” stated the chamber.

Protesting the syndicate, the Truck-Platform Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association, a grouping of truckers who transport goods to dry port based in Sirsiya, Birgunj , handed over a memorandum to Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Bimalendra Nidhi on Tuesday.

The association’s President Bhaiyaram Patel said they have demanded action against the syndicate imposers not allowing other trucks to operate. The syndicate imposers have made it mandatory for trucks to weigh at Taulpur area again even after clearance from the customs office.

However, Tarai Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association President Om Krishna Karki claimed there is no shortage of trucks. “Around 600 trucks are operating daily,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shankar Koirala, regional administrator of the Central Development Region, said he has directed the chief district officers to scrap the illegal syndicate system immediately. “We will initiate legal action against those committing illegal acts.”

Source: The Kathmandu Post